Kalamazoo County Drain Commissioner William French was convicted today of misdemeanor extortion for pressuring a developer to donate $1,000 to a drain fund to resolve problems on a project.

French, 57, of Augusta, was ordered by Van Buren County District Judge Robert Hentchel to pay a fine and court costs totaling $440. Hentchel was assigned the case by the state because French is a Kalamazoo County official.

The judge heard a daylong nonjury trial on April 20 and adjourned the case until today. A special prosecutor, Van Buren County Prosecutor Juris Kaps, was assigned to the case.

The case stems from a June 29 meeting in which French met with developer Rich Rosenberger to address erosion problems and the lack of a drain permit for work on a housing subdivision in Ross Township.

Rosenberger testified during the trial that he had received approval for work on the project, which involved placing a culvert over a creek, from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and the Kalamazoo County Soil Erosion Program, which then was under French's supervision.

The developer thought he had a drain permit from French, but he did not.

Rosenberger said French told him he needed to pay a $1,000 engineering fee so the drain office could have a firm review the developer's work. Rosenberger also said French asked him to pay a $1,000 fee to a special fund for the Goff Drain.

French testified he did ask for the donation and that he was planning to ask a local Boy Scout, who had an interest in organizing a service project, to get a group of Scouts together to clean out sedimentation from the Goff Drain and monitor it.

He said the money would be used to supply the Scouts with materials to work on the project.

French said his office could not have picked up the tab for supplies.

French said he was only suggesting the donation as a way to clean sediment from the Goff

Drain and that he wasn't trying to force Rosenberger to donate the money in exchange for the drain permit.